We have arrived on land! After 14 days on board the ship, we disembarked in Barcelona. Finally we would have the chance to really explore Barcelona with a 3-night stay, instead of just a few hours as a port of call. We arrived at the hotel, dropped our luggage - and headed out. We wandered for a bit until the 10:30am start time for our walking tour. The Free Walking Tour (paid by tips) was the first of several great walking tours we would take. It lasted about 2 hours, and took us through Las Ramblas, and then the Gothic Quarter - this would be the day of "Historic Barcelona". We were shown so many things we hadn't seen before - like the Roman Ruins still standing amongst modern apartment buildings. The guide provided us with a lot of history of Barcelona, gave us a few suggestions for restaurants (which we did go to), and also recommended the Museu d 'Història de la Ciutat (City History Museum) in the Gothic district. This was an amazing underground museum of the Roman city of Barcino, the origins of Barcelona. This is one of the largest Roman settlements ever discovered in Europe, and it was a fascinating trip back 2,000 years. There are still some remnants of the Roman village on the surface, but under the Gothic palace “Casa Padellàs” is where the ruins discovered in 1930, really come to life. Definitely a "side" of Barcelona that we had never seen before.
At the southern end of Las Ramblas, with the Columbus Monument.
This neoclassic building across from the Columbus Monument is the New Customs House.
Our walking tour began with a stroll down Las Ramblas, the famous pedestrian street in Barcelona. Filled with kiosk venders, restaurants, buskers and pick-pockets (so we were warned).
One of the more interesting buildings along Las Ramblas, the "House of Umbrellas" features an Art Nouveau exterior with Egyptian and oriental details, and cast-iron umbrellas to advertise the umbrella shop at street level (since gone).
The streets of the Gothic Quarter.
Placa Reial in the heart of the Gothic Quarter.
The small sign, marking the passageway to the remaining columns of the Temple of Augustus. We never would have noticed it, if not for our tour guide.
Now surrounded by modern apartment buildings, the remaining columns of a roman temple stand in stark contrast.
A very large church in the gothic quarter - but we didn't go inside this one. Don't worry, there will be pics of another church we did go into! 😊
Placa del Rei. The tower with many windows was meant to catch the ocean breezes and funnel the air into the buildings.
A few remaining towers of the city wall from Roman times. A portion of an aquaduct is still standing at the base of one tower.
After our walking tour, we continued wandering along other streets of Barcelona.
When we returned to Placa del Rei to enter the underground museum, there was now a bandstand with many people for "Mad Day Pride". We have no idea what that was all about, but it was certainly avant-garde and interesting.
Underground in the Museum of the History of Barcelona, with the remains of the original Roman village of Barcino.
This area of the town was used for making (and storing) a fish based sauce used for flavouring.
Remains of a temple.
This is the wine making/storing area. The large urns set into the ground were used for fermenting.
Back above ground, the crowds had gone, but this is what we found. We had been told by our tour guide that Barcelona is a popular place for stags and stagettes (especially from the UK) because it is not expensive. This groom-to-be was forced by his mates to read some poetry in the square while many strangers looked on chuckling and taking photos.
Wandering the streets of the Gothic Quarter.
The narrow streets with the mix of old and new buildings.
Inside the massive 13th Century Cathedral of Barcelona.
As the sun sets, highlighting the Cathedral of Barcelona next to the Roman ruins, we finished our day of exploring and headed back to the hotel.
NEXT: (Day 18) Barcelona, Spain - Day 2
PREV: (Day 15) Malaga, Spain
Transatlantic - May 2018